The global politics of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender human rights: an introduction

Abstract

This introduction provides a brief overview of key political developments in global lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) organizing and advocacy over the past three decades as well as a summary of recent academic research and debates on these issues in politics, sociology and other disciplines. It introduces the three questions addressed by the volume's subsequent contributions: (1) How can recent global developments related to LGBT human rights advocacy and organizing be explained by political and sociological theories? (2) What is at stake in focusing on ‘human rights’ rather than concepts such as ‘equality’, ‘justice’, ‘liberation’, ‘self-determination’ and/or ‘queer politics’? (3) How do transnational human rights networks and global norms of LGBT rights affect domestic politics in both the global North and global South? The article pays particular attention to the ‘human rights turn’ of the LGBT movements in the early 1990s and the political successes and failures that have ensued. Finally, it summarizes the main findings of the volume's contributions and how they relate to the questions raised in this introduction.